


White Wine, Red Mistletoe

by FreeTheSoul



Category: Tales of Graces
Genre: Christmas Party, M/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 11:43:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17161382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreeTheSoul/pseuds/FreeTheSoul
Summary: Richard feels like there’s something missing at the Christmas banquet, something important.Maybe the champagne is getting to him.





	White Wine, Red Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> Gift to dhaoslaser on Tumblr for the Tales Secret Santa! I hope you enjoy it!!
> 
> Thank you to @tsukinagaleo on Twitter for doing my beta read!
> 
> Also: Cheria isn’t jealous (I don’t like the jealous girl trope, anyways). She just definitely knows what’s going on.

Richard sighs down into his champagne, watching his reflection distort as he mindlessly swirls the glass in his hand.

He’s been surrounded by the bustle for the entire night, but there’s been something nagging at the back of his mind ever since the preparations started. He’s been engaged in pleasantries with other nobles ever since the Windor Palace’s annual Christmas banquet began, but he can’t help but feel oddly empty.

It was as if something important was missing.

“Richard!”

A voice breaks through his thoughts, and he nearly spills some of his drink in his surprise as he turns in the direction of the familiar-sounding yell. The person he’d been exchanging small chat with, whose name he’d already forgotten, steps away into a different conversation.

Pink curls bob into sight as Cheria makes her way through the throng of people towards him, waving to catch his attention as if her earlier yell hadn’t been enough. Sophie, with an expression of mild wonderment and less mild confusion, follows close behind.

Not far behind, Asbel is still busy greeting and apologizing to all the nobles he’s been bumping into on his way to catch up to the girls. Richard only has a moment to watch him before his attention is redirected to Cheria.

“Pretty upscale party, huh? Guess I’m not really surprised, though… Still, makes me nervous that I didn’t dress the part.” She runs a hand down her black-and-red cocktail dress self-consciously, tugging on the bottom to smooth out any imaginary wrinkles.

“I think you look pretty, Auntie Cheria,” a small voice pipes up from beside her. Sophie, for her part, is wearing a white lace-trim dress with an accompanying lace piece in her hair. Richard suppresses a smile as he notes that she’s still sporting her familiar old boots, however badly that they clash with the rest of her outfit.

He tilts his glass at Cheria. “I must agree. The two of you look quite lovely tonight.” At the compliment, one of Cheria’s hands moves up to brush her hair behind one of her ears. There’s a playful edge to Richard’s smile as he continues. “You’re the one who chose the dresses, I assume?”

“You bet. You’d hate to see what _Asbel_ tried to buy for Sophie. Can’t even dress himself, let alone a lady.” Cheria laughs, but comes to a rather abrupt pause as she feels a small hand pull gently on her dress. The two of them look down, finding that Sophie is staring up at Cheria with a surprisingly serious pout.

“I like the outfits Asbel chooses for me.”

There’s an almost pained look on Cheria’s face at this, but she finds herself interrupted before she has to think of a way to reply without hurting Sophie’s feelings.

“I finally caught up to you two!”

“Speak of the devil,” Cheria murmurs, but Richard catches the smile behind her exasperation.

“Jeez, walk slower next time, I got caught up in a conversation with some lady that I’d never even _seen_ before…” Asbel seems out of breath as he walks up to them, trying to fix his suit and making it even worse than before. He stops, mid-movement, then squints at Cheria. “Wait, what?”

Her tone is playfully snide. “We were just talking about those _horrible_ matching outfits you bought for you and Sophie. What was I going to do, showing up beside you two like that? I’m embarrassed just thinking about it!”

He blanches. “Hey, come on! It wasn’t _that_ bad.”

Cheria snorts, but Richard raises a hand before the squabble can snowball. “Asbel. It’s a pleasure that you could come.”

The expression on Asbel’s face almost gives the impression that he’s noticing Richard for the first time, and he immediately stiffens and turns to give him his full attention. “Oh…”

Everyone watches while Asbel chokes on his own spit and recovers just as ungracefully. “R-Richard, you look handsome tonight…”

Cheria stares at Asbel for a moment, then lets out a sigh and makes a loud announcement about taking Sophie with her to find the appetisers while Richard and Asbel catch up. The two of them wave at Sophie as she’s dragged along into the sea of guests, but it doesn’t take long for her to disappear from sight.

Turning his attention to Asbel once more, it only takes a moment of staring for Richard to come to a decision and wordlessly reach for his wrist.

“Follow me.”

Richard leads Asbel through the room, weaving among the guests until he finds a secluded corner with an empty table to set his drink down. Turning back to Asbel’s disheveled - and largely confused - self, he sighs in an endeared way and gently hooks a gloved finger under the knot of his tie.

Asbel remains dead silent as he watches Richard step so close that their chests are nearly touching, and finds that his mouth has gone awfully dry.

“You’ve tied it wrong.” Richard flashes a private smile, gaze focused on the tie as he quickly undoes it. “I can’t have my most important guest showing up like this, can I?”

Silence stretches between them as Richard busies himself with fixing Asbel’s tie, the rest of the party around them entirely forgotten until Asbel has been made presentable again. The magic wears off the instant Richard’s fingers pull away from straightening his coat, a guest accidentally stepping backward onto one of Asbel’s heels and jolting him back to the present.

Still, he can smell the cologne that Richard’s wearing. For a moment, Asbel is frozen in a blank stare until he realizes that he’s being waited on for a response to the words from earlier.

“I… Most important? You can’t be--” Asbel cringes at his voice crack, so he coughs and tries again. “There’s no need for the flattery, Richard. I’m a lord, but Lhant isn’t exactly the biggest country in the world. I doubt I’m the most distinguished person here.”

“Mmm,” Richard hums, taking a step back to pick up his champagne flute again and take a small sip. “There’s no need to be humble. Believe me, I know that being in control of anything is plenty of work. But… Well, I admit, your importance _does_ spread far beyond your title. At the very least, it does for me.”

Without bothering to elaborate, Richard leaves it at this despite the clearly puzzled look Asbel is giving him. Before the conversation can continue, Richard flags down a rather stressed-looking waiter for a new glass of champagne to give to Asbel, and he finds that he doesn’t get a chance to get a word in edgewise to ask what he’d meant earlier.

 

The evening passes from there as the two reintegrate themselves into the party, Asbel by Richard’s side through all the conversations with other important figures about politics and economy. He finds he almost - _almost -_ has a grasp on what’s going on in a given conversation, but every time he finds himself sidetracked by the sound of Richard’s laugh and the feeling of a hand on his hip pulling him so close their sides bump into each other a handful of times in the night.

They meet Cheria and Sophie again a few times, but when Cheria takes a look at the way Richard’s finger is tapping subconsciously against Asbel’s shoulder she finds herself with an excuse to bow out of the conversation again.

It’s when a waiter tries to offer him a second flute of champagne that Asbel has to say something.

“Richard,” and he finds he can’t be more grateful that they’re in a lull without any guests to talk to, “can we take a break and sit down for a second?”

He hums, giving his empty glass over to the same waiter who offered a new one to Asbel. “Of course. Is something wrong?”

The question hangs in the air as Richard leads him through a few rooms until they’re at an empty staircase, the sound of conversations fading behind them into a dull hush. Asbel is grateful for the chance to relax and sit down on the stairs, brushing a stray gold streamer out of his way while Richard leans against the doorway they passed through.

“It’s just…” Asbel sighs, then concludes lamely: “I don’t know, my feet hurt.”

Richard raises an eyebrow, and then stifles a surprised laugh behind his hand. “Is that it? You had me worried. Take your time, then. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind a break from the party.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. How do you put up with that all the time?” His laugh feels awfully forced. “Also…”

This catches Richard’s attention. “Also?”

Rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, Asbel has to wonder when he started feeling so sweaty. “I was wondering… what you meant earlier, when you said I was important, y’know?”

“Oh.” Richard looks down, rubbing the toe of his shoe against the linoleum as if he’s trying to remove a scuff. “Well… I suppose you’re the most important person in… my life. You’ve done quite a lot for me, don’t you think?” He gives an awkward attempt at a chuckle. “I only wish I could repay it, but…”

The silence stretches between them. Asbel looks up, making a minute expression of surprise, but is subsequently distracted as Richard takes a slow step towards him and raises his head to look him in the eyes.

“Perhaps, if you could remain at my side, I could… find a way to do so.”

Asbel shivers, involuntarily, at the weight he feels behind those words. He doesn’t know what to say, but isn’t given a chance to think; Richard quickly takes the next few steps until he’s right in front of the staircase. His hair brushes against Asbel’s cheek as he leans in, and there’s a warm hand putting pressure on his collarbone until it withdraws and flicks something off to the side.

Asbel stares blankly at Richard’s hand, for a moment, then back to his face.

“There was… a piece of lint.”

There wasn’t, but Asbel doesn’t have the time to focus on that. In a moment of sudden foresight, he knows exactly what’s about to happen. He can see the way Richard is looking at his lips, the way he’s leaning in--

“Wait.”

Asbel stops him and quickly reaches for his hand, standing up from the staircase as he does so. Richard gives him a look, somewhere between surprise and anxiety, but allows himself to be dragged over a few steps. They stop, rather abruptly, under the doorway that Richard had been beneath earlier.

They’re still, facing each other, and then Asbel leans in.

Richard makes a small, surprised _mmph,_ but he relaxes into the kiss with little restraint. His fingers slide across the smooth fabric of Asbel’s suit as he spreads his hand over his chest, but he freezes once he regains a sense of where he is and what he’s doing. There’s a touch of hesitation in him as he curls his hand into a fist against Asbel, but he pulls away before he can give himself a chance to think.

Fortunately, neither does Asbel as he wraps his arm tighter around Richard’s waist to pull him back against his lips. There’s almost an element of frustration behind it, but their kiss remains as chaste and closed-mouthed as before. It doesn’t take long for the two of them to part a second time, but Asbel continues to hold Richard so close he can smell the champagne on his breath.

Before Richard has the opportunity to voice any of the questions that are cascading through him dizzily, Asbel points up above them, at the top of the doorway, and he follows the finger with his eyes. There’s a cocky grin plastered on Asbel’s face, but Richard doesn’t need to ask why to get an explanation.

“There was mistletoe.”

**Author's Note:**

> I find it rude when strangers comment criticism (constructive or not) unprompted, so please don't!
> 
> Thank you for reading, and happy holidays!


End file.
